UMass Boston Student-Athletes Take Part in GForce Forum

Oct 20, 2011

Athletes attend special forum at Northeastern University

BOSTON, Mass. – Earlier this week members of the University of Massachusetts Boston softball, women's ice hockey, baseball, and lacrosse programs traveled to Northeastern University to take part in special forum "The Invisible Athletes" which was presented by GForce in conjunction with Northeastern's Sport in Society.

The forum, which was open to the public, featured four keynote speakers and a special panel of student-athletes to address and break down the negative stereotypes about gay athletes through competitive play and educational outreach. Philadelphia Flyers scout Patrick Burke moderated the panel of gay and lesbian athletes. Each athlete shared their personal story and experiences with the audience. People in attendance were able to ask the panel a variety of questions and received some valuable information in return.

Also in attendance at the forum was Andrew Goldstein, former All-American goalie of the Dartmouth College lacrosse team and commentator on gay athletic issues for ESPN, Lee-J Marasolo, current assistant coach at Princeton University and former team captain for the Boston College women's ice hockey team, and David Farber, former scoring leader and captain of the University of Pennsylvania men's ice hockey team.

GForce Sports is a non-profit organization based in Denver, Colorado, whose key focus is to educate people on the negative stereotypes about LGBT athletes. It demonstrates competitiveness, teamwork, pride and courage on the playing field, by relating diverse stories and experiences as told by LGBT athletes. Their hope is to create a dialogue and change the perceived differences between gay and straight athletes.